With luck, your garden is growing some lovely goodies right about now, whether you've planted for looks or for food. You may also be growing a few unwelcome weeds here and there as well. Sure, you can pull them up, but they always seem to come back, right? That's because their seeds are below the surface and they grow quickly. The solution? A simple piece of cardboard from an ordinary cardboard box.

As you can see from this video from the folks at Apartment Therapy, all you need is a piece of carboard—a side of a box will do, as long as it doesn't have ink on it or isn't coated in wax. Just put the cardboard down over the spots of your garden where the weeds are known to live, cover it over with a thick layer of mulch, and leave it alone. The cardboard will keep the weeds from growing up through the dirt and insulate the ground to a temperature that kills the weed seeds. Plus, the cardboard is biodegradable and should break down over the next year under the mulch.

Granted, this means that you now have a spot in your garden where you probably shouldn't plant anything new right now, so don't go laying down cardboard everywhere and try to grow something in the mulch on top right away. Try this in areas that you've cleared already, and leave the cardboard alone for a while. Apartment Therapy doesn't mention it specifically, but I've also heard newspaper works well for this purpose. Looking for some more weed-removal tips? We've got you covered. If you have any other garden-friendly weed-killing suggestions, make sure to let us know.